Political oratory is a dying art form that few are good at and even fewer master. But since her arrival on the national stage in 2008, Sarah Palin has proven to be a practitioner of a very special brand of oratory that has its roots in the plain speaking prairie populists of the late 19th and early 20th century. Fighting established interests, damning the elites who they felt were responsible for the terrible rural poverty of the time, prairie populism swept through the heartland, roiling politics and giving a sense of empowerment to people as they battled the east coast bankers and monopolies.

Palin, who gave a rousing, enthusiastically received speech at the NRA convention in Houston yesterday, has what all good orators have; the ability to capture the moment. There are several elements that make a good orator but one of them is being blessed with the gift of being able to connect in a visceral way with their audience. Palin captures the moment by capturing her audience, speaking to them on a plane that other politicians can’t reach. She holds them in the palm of her hand so that they feel one with her — a bond she obviously shares.

Liberals complain she feeds the resentments and petty biases of her audience. But they miss the point. Palin articulates what ails America largely because all other politicians tip-toe around what the American people are truly concerned about. And she does it in a way that everyone can understand and feel at a gut level.

Republicans have been complaining about President Obama and the Democrats using the Newtown tragedy in a shameless, exploitative way to serve their gun control agenda. But Palin took a different tack:

Sarah Palin said Friday that the elite media would never let a Republican president get away with what Barack Obama has done in his push for new gun laws.

The former Alaska governor recalled that the national press “tore apart” George W. Bush for using “fleeting images” from Sept. 11, 2001, during his 2004 reelection campaign.

At the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting, Palin slammed Obama for flying the grieving parents of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Air Force One and then “making them backdrops” at rallies.

“That same media is now the reliable poodle-skirted cheerleader for the president that writes the book on exploiting tragedy,” she said, wearing a T-shirt that said “women hunt.”

Palin insisted that all Americans felt “despair, sadness and absolute anger” when they saw what happened in Connecticut. She said everyone should care more about those getting gunned down every single day on the streets of places like Chicago and New York City, but that shouldn’t guide public policy.

“Now, emotion is a good and a necessary thing. But we have politicians exploiting emotion for their own agenda,” she said. “We have well-meaning Americans who are desperate to respond.

Note that she clearly separates the shameless politicians who exploit the victims from “well meaning Americans” who respond emotionally. Rather than complaining about “low information voters,” she invites those Americans to share her contempt for Obama and the Democrats.

“We’re fighting the good fight,” Palin said near the end of a 12-minute speech. “The Washington establishment sneers at you, and you don’t give up. The lamestream media just plain doesn’t get you, and you don’t give up. You don’t retreat.”

Palin took a shot at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, always a bogeyman at these gatherings. At her last big public event – the Conservative Political Action Conference in March – she sipped a Big Gulp from the podium to mock his ban on the sale of the large sodas. She told the NRA crowd that Bloomberg may next try to ban public displays of tobacco products.

Then she pulled out a container of snuff.

“I tell ya, don’t make me do it,” she joked. “It’s funny because [my husband] Todd’s been looking for this all morning.”

Of the people and for the people. That’s straight out of the prairie populist handbook, down to using the rich, nanny Mayor Bloomberg as a foil. And, of course, the can of snuff is the perfect prop to demonstrate her bona fides as a Woman of the People, standing up to the statists and monied interests.

I don’t like Sarah Palin’s politics much at all. But you can admire her oratorical abilities and respect the hold she has on ordinary people. In more than 40 years of following politics, I’ve seen only a handful who can match her. Hubert Humphrey, John Connally, Ronald Reagan, Mario Cuomo, and a younger Barack Obama exuded that same presence on stage, commanding attention, connecting emotionally, and lifting their audience out of themselves while sharing their vision for America.

What Governor Palin will do with this great gift will interest a lot of people before 2016 is done.

Governor Palin’s oratorical gift comes from a visceral grasp of the interests and fears of ordinary Americans. She speaks to us of those things because she is one of us -- and we respond because we can tell that she’s sincere, rather than a manipulator armed with the latest, elaborately focus-group-tested nostrums and trigger words.

These days, sincerity is a trait rarely found in a member of the political class. That might be the best of all explanations for why Governor Palin has declined to re-enter electoral politics: she’s unwilling to soil herself by keeping company with persons who lack character. And the professional pols hate her, and yearn to see her destroyed, for precisely that reason.

First of all, how can you say you don't like her politics? They were good enough in Alaska that she had a 80% approval rating after two years in office... Democrats were in agreement with her on many things. She was a great Governor. Do you not like Conservative, libertarian leaning ideas? A politician who governs for the people rather than for a political career?I guess if some people get their intelligence from Jon Stewart and Colbert, Letterman, Maher, Whoopi, etc.... then I guess the people who think that way about Sarah Palin are afraid of pulling their head out of their butts because it would bring a burst of oxygen which would destroy the few remaining brain cells.

I have to wonder why an article that (reluctantly) admits to Palin's oratorical skills doesn't include a video of the speech she gave. There's not even a brief excerpt to illustrate the point. Was the speech not recorded? Or is the author reluctant to show us just how good she was because of his own negative feelings toward Palin?

One caution: there is a brief interruption to the speech about 2 minutes in which looks like an editing snafu; but 99% of the speech is there so don't wander away when the video briefly leaves Palin's speech; it goes back and shows the rest of the speech.

There's a lot less to that Palin woman than meets the eye. There's no question that she's all woman; but there's a major question as to the real reason she resigned her term at being Governor after only two years or whatever it was....halfway through her elected term.

Do we want that possibility in another office that she's popularly elected for?

It'll take a lot of clever political rationalizing to justify her seriousness of intent at any further office she may think she wants.

She seems to say all of the right things, though. Busy, busy, busy....she seems to be an articulate gadfly at a wisp. That's not what we need in Office.

Sarah Palin served 32 out of 48 months the same percentage that Obama served of his Senate term (not including the two-year break he spent campaigning) and accomplished everything she set out to do in that time.

After Sarah Palin accepted John McCain’s offer to run for vice president and became the left’s (media) most attacked and vilified person she returned to Alaska to find a never-ending assault of frivolous ethics complaints paralyzing her ability to govern the state.

She resigned because she recognized the cost that the frivolous ethics complaints were having on her state , and she saw how much of her staff’s time and her own time were forced to deal with those issues.

That entire campaign of BS lawsuits was meant to do nothing but hamstring the governor's office and bankrupt Sarah Palin.

She saw that if she stayed on as Governor it would continue to cost the state millions of dollars in wasted time and resources to defend against false and maliciously ethics complaints and doom it to gridlock.

Those frivolous lawsuits had already cost the state of AK close to $2 million; Sarah Palin had over $500,000 dollars in legal fees.

These lawsuits were filed by activists whose goal was to bog down her administration with lawsuits and paperworks & to bankrupt her middle class family. Sarah Palin was responsible for her own legal fees due to the ethic laws at the time. She & her staff were spending 80% of their time defending lawsuits & dealing with FOIA requests. No sooner would one lawsuit go away then another was filed.

Sarah Palin knew that for the sake of her state it would be best if she stepped aside from the governorship. She resigned so the state could move forward.

In an article Sarah Palin said:

“I said, ‘Enough. Political adversaries and their political friends in the media will not destroy my State, my administration, nor my family. Enough.’ I knew if I didn’t play their game any longer, they could not win. I would not retreat, I would instead reload, and I would fight for what is right from a different plane.”

She promised to keep the frivolous anti-Palin law suits away from the Alaskan people and to be more effective on the stump ( supporting candidates , fundraising, etc)

Sarah Palin was truthful on both accounts.

She was the catalyst for the takeover of the House , twice as many Governships and lopsided Gop Statehouses with her endorsements and rallies all over the country during the 2010 election.

Sarah Palin also had a very strong hand in the party’s few successes during the 2012 election.

Here's part of Wiki-type article that is worth thinking about...politicians commenting on a politician......Google, "Why Sarah Palin resigned." Short attention spans....that was in 2009, this is only 2013, and she's acting as if nothing happened. Has our Publick simply flicked this aside? I can't buy that.

"Politicians and pundits

Politicians and pundits had a mixed reaction to Palin's resignation. Republican Alaska State Representative Mike Hawker stated that quitting "gives her unfettered ability to pursue her economic interests, whether it be a book deal or speeches ... without being cluttered by state ethics law."[15] Alaska U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, said she was "deeply disappointed that the governor has decided to abandon the state and her constituents before her term has concluded."[2] Former Alaska governor Tony Knowles, the Democrat Palin defeated for governor in 2006, said that "[s]he closed a chapter in Alaska politics on a very weird and bizarre note... Friends or foes alike would have never thought that she would be a quitter, but that's what she did today."[16] Congressman Steve King, a Republican from Iowa, said: "I don't know of anyone who has successfully and voluntarily pulled themselves out of political office and been able to leverage that into more political success".[17] Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura labeled Palin a "quitter" and said, "it offends me over the fact that she told the people of Alaska she wanted to be their governor. And that's a four-year commitment. And now, right in the middle, she quits?"[18][19][20]

David Frum, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush[21] said: "Basically, quitting for the stated reason that you can't get anything done in your job and because you can't endure the criticism you're receiving and then cashing in, in order to make a lot of money is not a good resume with which to run for president of the United States."[22]

Governor Palin’s oratorical gift comes from a visceral grasp of the interests and fears of ordinary Americans. She speaks to us of those things because she is one of us -- and we respond because we can tell that she’s sincere, rather than a manipulator armed with the latest, elaborately focus-group-tested nostrums and trigger words.

These days, sincerity is a trait rarely found in a member of the political class. That might be the best of all explanations for why Governor Palin has declined to re-enter electoral politics: she’s unwilling to soil herself by keeping company with persons who lack character. And the professional pols hate her, and yearn to see her destroyed, for precisely that reason.

Governor Palin has demonstrated the ability to connect to millions of like minded people and that popularity, coupled with her 20 year career running all levels of state government with record bipartisan support, is a serious threat to the entire radical obama democrat agenda.

Sarah Palin reflects what our parents, grand parents, and great grand parents would instantly recognize and support as classic Americanism in word and deed.

She is a national treasure and America will be well served with her as President.

In my mind Sarah Palin is now a conservative entertainer, similar to Ann Coulter. After Sarah's memorable bus tour non-campaign in 2011, it is very difficult for me to take her seriously as anything more than an entertainer. I recall she made a memorable speech about honoring the men who charged the cannons to preserve our liberty, but she herself wan't even willing to face the electorate. She made her choice, and now she has to live with it for the rest of her life.

First of all, how can you say you don't like her politics? They were good enough in Alaska that she had a 80% approval rating after two years in office... Democrats were in agreement with her on many things. She was a great Governor. Do you not like Conservative, libertarian leaning ideas? A politician who governs for the people rather than for a political career?I guess if some people get their intelligence from Jon Stewart and Colbert, Letterman, Maher, Whoopi, etc.... then I guess the people who think that way about Sarah Palin are afraid of pulling their head out of their butts because it would bring a burst of oxygen which would destroy the few remaining brain cells.